DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on December 05, 2025 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 5-13, 17-30 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Regarding independent claim 1, 13, and 25 tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationDedicated is a UE specific dedicated parameter. In the new secondary reference Lin, it is also disclosed that it is configured per BWP.
Claim Interpretation
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(f):
(f) Element in Claim for a Combination. – An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The claims in this application are given their broadest reasonable interpretation using the plain meaning of the claim language in light of the specification as it would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. The broadest reasonable interpretation of a claim element (also commonly referred to as a claim limitation) is limited by the description in the specification when 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is invoked.
As explained in MPEP § 2181, subsection I, claim limitations that meet the following three-prong test will be interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
(A) the claim limitation uses the term “means” or “step” or a term used as a substitute for “means” that is a generic placeholder (also called a nonce term or a non-structural term having no specific structural meaning) for performing the claimed function;
(B) the term “means” or “step” or the generic placeholder is modified by functional language, typically, but not always linked by the transition word “for” (e.g., “means for”) or another linking word or phrase, such as “configured to” or “so that”; and
(C) the term “means” or “step” or the generic placeholder is not modified by sufficient structure, material, or acts for performing the claimed function.
Use of the word “means” (or “step”) in a claim with functional language creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim limitation is to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph. The presumption that the claim limitation is interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is rebutted when the claim limitation recites sufficient structure, material, or acts to entirely perform the recited function.
Claim limitations in this application that use the word “means” (or “step”) are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, except as otherwise indicated in an Office action. Conversely, claim limitations in this application that do not use the word “means” (or “step”) are not being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, except as otherwise indicated in an Office action.
This application includes one or more claim limitations that use the word “means” or “step” but are nonetheless not being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph because the claim limitation(s) recite(s) sufficient structure, materials, or acts to entirely perform the recited function. Such claim limitation(s) is: "means for receiving an indication …" and “means for transmitting, in response to receiving the indication” in claim 25.
Three prong test: (A) the claim recites “means”, (B) the claim recites “for” (C) invoked since means is not modified by sufficient structure, material, or acts for performing the claimed function.
Because these claim limitations are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112f or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, they are interpreted to cover the corresponding structure described in the specifications as performing the claimed function, and equivalents thereof. The structural support is defined in the Applicant’s specifications in ¶[0163]: the subband full-duplex aware circuitry 1042 … may provide a means for receiving an indication and ¶[0164]: the channels and signals configuration circuitry 1043 … may provide a means for transmitting, in response to receiving the indication.
This application includes one or more claim limitations that use the word “means” or “step” but are nonetheless not being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph because the claim limitation(s) recite(s) sufficient structure, materials, or acts to entirely perform the recited function. Such claim limitation(s) are: "means for transmitting at least one of: physical downlink shared channel configuration parameters … ", “means for transmitting at least one of: physical uplink shared channel configuration parameters … ” in claim 26.
Three prong test: (A) the claim recites “means”, (B) the claim recites “for” (C) invoked since means is not modified by sufficient structure, material, or acts for performing the claimed function.
Because these claim limitations are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112f or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, they are interpreted to cover the corresponding structure described in the specifications as performing the claimed function, and equivalents thereof. The structural support is defined in the Applicant’s specifications in ¶[0163]: the subband full-duplex aware circuitry 1042 … may provide a means for receiving an indication and ¶[0164]: the channels and signals configuration circuitry 1043 … may provide a means for transmitting, in response to receiving the indication.
This application includes one or more claim limitations that use the word “means” or “step” but are nonetheless not being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph because the claim limitation(s) recite(s) sufficient structure, materials, or acts to entirely perform the recited function. Such claim limitation(s) are: "means for transmitting a downlink bandwidth part configuration … ", “means for transmitting a uplink bandwidth part configuration … ” in claim 28.
Three prong test: (A) the claim recites “means”, (B) the claim recites “for” (C) invoked since means is not modified by sufficient structure, material, or acts for performing the claimed function.
Because these claim limitations are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112f or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, they are interpreted to cover the corresponding structure described in the specifications as performing the claimed function, and equivalents thereof. The structural support is defined in the Applicant’s specifications in ¶[0167]: the channels and signals configuration circuitry 1043 in conjunction with the transceiver 1014 and the antenna array(s) 1016, may be configured to … transmit a downlink bandwidth part .. or transmit a uplink bandwidth part.
This application includes one or more claim limitations that use the word “means” or “step” but are nonetheless not being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph because the claim limitation(s) recite(s) sufficient structure, materials, or acts to entirely perform the recited function. Such claim limitation(s) is: "means for transmitting a subband identifier … " in claim 29.
Three prong test: (A) the claim recites “means”, (B) the claim recites “for” (C) not invoked since there is structural support in ¶[0167]: the channels and signals configuration circuitry 1043 … may be configured to… uplink subband full-duplex identifier.
This application includes one or more claim limitations that use the word “means” or “step” but are nonetheless not being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph because the claim limitation(s) recite(s) sufficient structure, materials, or acts to entirely perform the recited function. Such claim limitation(s) are: “means for transmitting a downlink bandwidth part configuration … ” in claim 30.
Three prong test: (A) the claim recites “means”, (B) the claim recites “for” (C) invoked since means is not modified by sufficient structure, material, or acts for performing the claimed function. Because these claim limitations are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112f or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, they are interpreted to cover the corresponding structure described in the specifications as performing the claimed function, and equivalents thereof. The structural support is defined in the Applicant’s specifications in ¶[0168]: the downlink subband-specific channels and signals configuration and the uplink subband-specific channels and signals configuration together may comprise a downlink-uplink subband-specific pair, and the processor 1004, or the channels and signals configuration circuitry 1043.
Because these claim limitation(s) are not being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, they are not being interpreted to cover only the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification as performing the claimed function, and equivalents thereof.
If applicant intends to have this/these limitation(s) interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, applicant may: (1) amend the claim limitation(s) to remove the structure, materials, or acts that performs the claimed function; or (2) present a sufficient showing that the claim limitation(s) does/do not recite sufficient structure, materials, or acts to perform the claimed function.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1, 5-7, 9-11, 13, 17-19, 21-23, 25-26 and 27-29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable in view of Abelghaffar et al. (US 20210152418 A1) (hereinafter Abelghaffar) in view of Jan (WO2023245608A1) (hereinafter Jan) in further view of Kurita et al. (WO 2024034097 A1) (hereinafter Kurita) and in further view of Lin (US 20230145355 A1) (hereinafter Lin).
Regarding Claim 1, Abelghaffar discloses a network access node, comprising: a memory; and a processor coupled to the memory, wherein the processor is configured to based at least in part on information stored in the memory: receive an indication that a user equipment is aware of subband full-duplex operation (¶[0190]: UE 115-a may further include an indication of one or more types of full-duplex communications that may be supported by the UE 115-a. For example, the UE 115-a may identify that the UE 115-a may support in-band full-duplex or sub-band full-duplex (e.g., flexible duplex), or both, over the communication link 205. Fig. 7 710. ¶[0236]: At 710, the UE 115-c may transmit a UE full-duplex capability indication message to the base station 105-c) and transmit, in response to receiving the indication (Fig. 7 715. ¶[0237]: At 715, the base station 105-c may transmit a base station full-duplex capability indication message to the UE 115-c. ¶[0237]: the base station full-duplex capability indication message may include a resource configuration for supporting the one or more types of full-duplex communications for each RF spectrum band. ¶[0237]: the resource configuration may include a type of full-duplex communication that may be used for full-duplex communications, frequency locations for uplink and downlink transmissions, a guard band configuration, a transmission hopping configuration, an antenna or antenna panel switching configuration, or a combination thereof) .
Abelghaffar does not disclose the indication being at least one of a downlink subband-specific channels and signals configuration or an uplink subband-specific channels and signals configuration disclose downlink subband-specific channels and signals configuration or an uplink subband-specific channels and signals configuration utilizing radio resource control (RRC) signaling.
However, Jan discloses the indication being a downlink subband-specific channels and signals configuration utilizing radio resource control (RRC) signaling (¶[0042]: an SBFD operation using a configuration of the SBFD operation or an indication to the user equipment (UE), wherein the configuration of the SBFD operation includes an uplink (UL) sub-band in downlink (DL), or flexible slots/symbols or DL sub-band in UL, or flexible slots/symbols along with UL/DL sub-band configurable parameters, and/or a management of a co-existence of an SBFD capable UE and a legacy UE. ¶[0045]: for a semi-static configuration/indication of the SBFD operation, a semi-static configuration RRC signaling is used to configure the UL sub-bands in DL slots/symbols or DL sub-bands in UL slots/symbols).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure a network access node to receive an indication that a UE is aware of subband full-duplex operation and to transmit an indication in response to the indication as taught by Abelghaffar and to extend it by including downlink or uplink subband-specific channels and signals using RRC signaling, as taught by Jan.
Doing so allows for subband full duplex configurations to be implemented in order to enable “the co-existence of legacy UE and SBFD capable UE in order to improve the backward compatibility” (Jan ¶[0078]) and to “improve the flexibility of gNB scheduling” (Jan ¶[0051]).
Abelghaffar in view of Jan does not disclose wherein the downlink subband-specific channels and signals configuration comprises subband dedicated parameters that are user equipment specific and are configured per bandwidth part (BWP)
However, Kurita discloses the downlink subband-specific channels and signals configuration comprises subband dedicated parameters that are user equipment specific (Pg. 58: Throughout this specification, SBFD operation in a UL symbol means a DL subband in a UL symbol that is designated as uplink by tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon or tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationDedicated, and SBFD operation in a DL symbol may mean a UL subband in a DL symbol designated as downlink by tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon or tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationDedicated)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the subband-specific configuration handling triggered by UE awareness of subband full-duplex operation, as taught by Abelghaffar in view of Jan, with the use of dedicated parameters, as taught by Kurita.
Doing so allows for subband full duplex configurations to be implemented in order for “more UL resources can be secured, and resource utilization efficiency can be improved.” (Kurita pg. 6).
Abelghaffar in view of Jan in further view of Kurita does not disclose the configuration are configured per BWP.
However, Lin discloses the configuration are configured per BWP (¶[0238] flexible symbols in each slot of the slot configuration period are determined from tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon and tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationDedicated and are different to different configured BWPs (i.e., each BWP has its own slot configuration). )
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the use of dedicated parameters, as taught by Abelghaffar in view of Jan in further view of Kurita, in each bandwidth part (BWP), as taught by Lin.
One would have been motivated to do this implementation in order to “improve latency and UL coverage” (Lin ¶[0096]).
Regarding Claim 5, Abelghaffar does not disclose wherein the processor is further configured to, based at least in part on information stored in the memory: transmit at least one of: physical downlink shared channel configuration parameters, physical downlink control channel configuration parameters, a semi-persistent scheduling configuration parameter, or a downlink subband timing and frequency indication parameter; and transmit at least one of: physical uplink shared channel configuration parameters, physical uplink control channel configuration parameters, uplink configured grant configuration parameters, sounding reference signal configuration parameters, physical random access channel (PRACH) configuration parameters, or an uplink subband timing and frequency indication parameter.
However, Jan discloses wherein the processor is further configured to, based at least in part on information stored in the memory: transmit at least one of: physical downlink shared channel configuration parameters, physical downlink control channel configuration parameters, a semi-persistent scheduling configuration parameter, or a downlink subband timing and frequency indication parameter (¶[0042]: an SBFD
operation using a configuration of the SBFD operation or an indication to the user equipment (UE), wherein the configuration of the SBFD operation includes an uplink (UL) sub-band in downlink (DL), or flexible slots/symbols or DL sub-band in UL, or flexible slots/symbols along with UL/DL sub-band configurable parameters, and/or a management of a co-existence of an SBFD capable UE and a legacy UE. ¶[0043]: In some embodiments, the UL/DL sub-band configurable parameters comprise sub-band features and/or an allocation of time/frequency resources to UL/DL sub-bands); and transmit at least one of: physical uplink shared channel configuration parameters, physical uplink control channel configuration parameters, uplink configured grant configuration parameters, sounding reference signal configuration parameters, physical random access channel (PRACH) configuration parameters, or an uplink subband timing and frequency indication parameter ((¶[0042]: an SBFD
operation using a configuration of the SBFD operation or an indication to the user equipment (UE), wherein the configuration of the SBFD operation includes an uplink (UL) sub-band in downlink (DL), or flexible slots/symbols or DL sub-band in UL, or flexible slots/symbols along with UL/DL sub-band configurable parameters, and/or a
management of a co-existence of an SBFD capable UE and a legacy UE. ¶[0043]: In some embodiments, the UL/DL sub-band configurable parameters comprise sub-band features and/or an allocation of time/frequency resources to UL/DL sub-bands) with the RRC signaling associated with the downlink subband-specific channels and signals configuration (¶[0045]: for a semi-static configuration/indication of the SBFD operation, a semi-static configuration RRC signaling is used to configure the UL sub-bands in DL slots/symbols or DL sub-bands in UL slots/symbols).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure a network access to incorporate the subband-specific configuration handling triggered by UE awareness of subband full-duplex operation, as taught by Abelghaffar in view of Jan, and extended with downlink subband timing and frequency indication parameter as taught by Jan.
Doing so allows for subband full duplex configurations to be implemented in order to enable “the co-existence of legacy UE and SBFD capable UE in order to improve the backward compatibility” (Jan ¶[0078]) and to “improve the flexibility of gNB scheduling” (Jan ¶[0051]).
Regarding Claim 6, Jan discloses the processor is further configured to: transmit the downlink subband-specific channels and signals configuration or the uplink subband-specific channels and signals configuration with the RRC signaling (¶[0045]: for a semi-static configuration/indication of the SBFD operation, a semi-static configuration RRC signaling is used to configure the UL sub-bands in DL slots/symbols or DL sub-bands in UL slots/symbols)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure a network access node to receive an indication that a UE is aware of subband full-duplex operation and to transmit an indication in response to the indication as taught by Abelghaffar and to extend it by including downlink or uplink subband-specific channels and signals using RRC signaling, as taught by Jan.
Doing so allows for subband full duplex configurations to be implemented in order to enable “the co-existence of legacy UE and SBFD capable UE in order to improve the backward compatibility” (Jan ¶[0078]) and to “improve the flexibility of gNB scheduling” (Jan ¶[0051]).
Abelghaffar in view of Jan does not disclose the processor is further configured to: transmit a parameter indicating that the downlink subband-specific channels and signals configuration or the uplink subband-specific channels and signals configuration is dedicated to a specific channel.
However, Kurita discloses wherein the processor is further configured to: transmit a parameter indicating that the downlink subband-specific channels and signals configuration or the uplink subband-specific channels and signals configuration is dedicated to a specific channel or a specific signal with the RRC signaling (Pg. 58: Throughout this specification, SBFD operation in a UL symbol means a DL subband in a UL symbol that is designated as uplink by tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon or tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationDedicated, and SBFD operation in a DL symbol may mean a UL subband in a DL symbol designated as downlink by tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon or tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationDedicated) .
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure a network access node to combine the subband specific channel and signal configurations based on UE subband full duplex awareness as taught by Abelghaffar in view of Jan, with the teaching of Kurita which discloses that the subband may be indicated with an RRC parameter specifying whether the configuration is UE-dedicated or common.
Doing so allows for subband full duplex configurations to be implemented in order for “more UL resources can be secured, and resource utilization efficiency can be improved.” (Kurita pg. 6).
Regarding Claim 7, Jan discloses herein the processor is further configured to: transmit the RRC signaling indicating a subband full-duplex specification (¶[0045]: for a semi-static configuration/indication of the SBFD operation, a semi-static configuration RRC signaling is used to configure the UL sub-bands in DL slots/symbols or DL sub-bands in UL slots/symbols)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure a network access node to receive an indication that a UE is aware of subband full-duplex operation and to transmit an indication in response to the indication as taught by Abelghaffar and to extend it by including downlink or uplink subband-specific channels and signals using RRC signaling, as taught by Jan.
Doing so allows for subband full duplex configurations to be implemented in order to enable “the co-existence of legacy UE and SBFD capable UE in order to improve the backward compatibility” (Jan ¶[0078]) and to “improve the flexibility of gNB scheduling” (Jan ¶[0051]).
Abelghaffar in view of Jan does not disclose the processor is further configured to: transmit the RRC signaling including a parameter indicating a subband full-duplex specification that is common to all signals and channels.
However, Kurita discloses wherein the processor is further configured to: transmit the RRC signaling including a parameter indicating a subband full-duplex specification that is common to all signals and channels (Pg. 58: Throughout this specification, SBFD operation in a UL symbol means a DL subband in a UL symbol that is designated as uplink by tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon or tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationDedicated, and SBFD operation in a DL symbol may mean a UL subband in a DL symbol designated as downlink by tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon or tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationDedicated).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure a network access node to combine the subband specific channel and signal configurations based on UE subband full duplex awareness as taught by Abelghaffar in view of Jan, with the teaching of Kurita which discloses that the subband may be indicated with an RRC parameter specifying whether the configuration is UE-dedicated or common.
Doing so allows for subband full duplex configurations to be implemented in order for “more UL resources can be secured, and resource utilization efficiency can be improved.” (Kurita pg. 6).
Regarding Claim 9, Abelghaffar does not disclose wherein the processor is further configured to, based at least in part on information stored in the memory, at least one of: transmit a downlink bandwidth part configuration associated with the uplink subband-specific channels and signals configuration, or transmit an uplink bandwidth part configuration associated with the downlink subband-specific channels and signals configuration.
However, Kurita discloses wherein the processor is further configured to, based at least in part on information stored in the memory, at least one of: transmit a downlink bandwidth part configuration associated with the uplink subband-specific channels and signals configuration, or transmit an uplink bandwidth part configuration associated with the downlink subband-specific channels and signals configuration (Pg. 6: Multiple BWP configurations and BWP adaptation mechanisms are required to switch one DL/UL frequency resource to another DL/UL frequency resource. Pg. 6: SBFD symbols are advertised or configured as UL (or DL) on a certain frequency resource (subband), or advertised or configured for UL transmission (or DL reception). Pg. 82: The BWP may include a UL BWP (UL BWP) and a DL BWP (DL BWP). Pg. 24: the UE is notified/configured for SBFD operation for the serving cell/Bandwidth Part (BWP). Pg. 45: SBFD operation (and/or DL/UL subband allocation) is notified/configured for the serving cell/bandwidth part (BWP).).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to enhance the teachings in Abelghaffar to receive an indication that a UE is aware of subband full-duplex operation and to transmit a downlink or uplink subband-specific channels and signals using RRC signaling, and extend it with the teaching of Kurita which describes SBFD configuration comprise of the downlink BWP associated with the uplink sub-band and uplink BWP associated downlink sub-band.
Doing so allows for subband full duplex configurations to be implemented in order for “more UL resources can be secured, and resource utilization efficiency can be improved.” (Kurita pg. 6).
Regarding Claim 10, Abelghaffar does not disclose wherein the processor is further configured to: transmit a subband identifier within the at least one of: the downlink bandwidth part configuration to associate the downlink bandwidth part configuration with the uplink subband-specific channels and signals configuration, or the uplink bandwidth part configuration, to associate the uplink bandwidth part configuration with the downlink subband-specific channels and signals configuration, respectively.
However, Kurita discloses wherein the processor is further configured to: transmit a subband identifier within the at least one of: the downlink bandwidth part configuration to associate the downlink bandwidth part configuration with the uplink subband-specific channels and signals configuration, or the uplink bandwidth part configuration, to associate the uplink bandwidth part configuration with the downlink subband-specific channels and signals configuration, respectively (Pg. 6: DL frequency resources and UL frequency resources in the UE carrier are configured as DL BWP and UL BWP, respectively. Multiple BWP configurations and BWP adaptation mechanisms are required to switch one DL/UL frequency resource to another DL/UL frequency resource. Pg. 24: the UE is notified/configured for SBFD operation for the serving cell/Bandwidth Part (BWP). Pg. 45: SBFD operation (and/or DL/UL subband allocation) is notified/configured for the serving cell/bandwidth part (BWP). Kurita discloses that SBFD configurations are made per BWP in pg.24, meaning that subband specific signaling is tied to a particular UL or DL BWP. Kurita also links subband allocations explicitly to BWP in Pg. 45, meaning subband behavior must be defined in relation to that BWP configuration. Finally, BWP switching mechanisms in Kurita pg. 6, reinforce the need for explicit association. In SBFD, when a DL symbol contains an UL subband, the identifier within the BWP becomes a logical and functional necessity).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to enhance the teachings in Abelghaffar to receive an indication that a UE is aware of subband full-duplex operation and to transmit a downlink or uplink subband-specific channels and signals using RRC signaling, and extend it with the teaching of Kurita which describes SBFD configuration comprise of the downlink BWP associated with the uplink sub-band and uplink BWP associated downlink sub-band and further with the subband identifier within either downlink or uplink BWP configuration.
Doing so allows for subband full duplex configurations to be implemented in order for “more UL resources can be secured, and resource utilization efficiency can be improved.” (Kurita pg. 6).
Regarding Claim 11, Jan discloses wherein the downlink subband-specific channels and signals configuration and the uplink subband-specific channels and signals configuration together comprise a downlink-uplink subband-specific pair (¶[0042]: an SBFD operation using a configuration of the SBFD operation or an indication to the user equipment (UE), wherein the configuration of the SBFD operation includes an uplink (UL) sub-band in downlink (DL), or flexible slots/symbols or DL sub-band in UL, or flexible slots/symbols along with UL/DL sub-band configurable parameters, and/or a management of a co-existence of an SBFD capable UE and a legacy UE. ¶[0055]: The frequency location of an UL sub-band in DL slots/symbols can be allocated in the inner part of carriers or the inner RBs between the two DL sub-bands. ¶[0070]: For instance, the SFI for UL sub-bands in DL slots can include the following fields comprising … starting of DL slot, starting of UL PRB, number of UL PRB, and guard band. Similarly, the SFI for DL sub-bands in UL slots can include the following fields comprising … starting of UL slot, starting of DL PRB, number of DL PRB, and guard band. ¶[0042] indicates that SBFD operation in which UL and DL subbands are allocated in the same TDD slot. ¶[0055] shows the coexistence and positional relation between DL and UL subbands in the same symbol, these allocations are relative and coordinated which supports a pairing interpretation. ¶[0070] show the same format structures are used to convey DL and UL subband config implying a logical pairing or bundling of subband parameters).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure the subband full-duplex operation as taught by Abelghaffar and to pair the downlink or uplink subband-specific channels and signals, as taught by Jan.
Doing so enables SBFD operations to be implemented and lowers collision such that UL does not spill into DL reception.
Abelghaffar does not disclose and the processor is further configured to: transmit a downlink bandwidth part configuration in association with the downlink-uplink subband-specific pair.
However, Kurita discloses and the processor is further configured to: transmit a downlink bandwidth part configuration in association with the downlink-uplink subband-specific pair (Pg. 6: Multiple BWP configurations and BWP adaptation mechanisms are required to switch one DL/UL frequency resource to another DL/UL frequency resource. Pg. 82: The BWP may include a UL BWP (UL BWP) and a DL BWP (DL BWP). Pg. 6: DL frequency resources and UL frequency resources in the UE carrier are configured as DL BWP and UL BWP, respectively. Pg. 82: The BWP may include a UL BWP (UL BWP) and a DL BWP (DL BWP). Pg. 24: the UE is notified/configured for SBFD operation for the serving cell/Bandwidth Part (BWP). Pg. 45: SBFD operation (and/or DL/UL subband allocation) is notified/configured for the serving cell/bandwidth part (BWP)).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to enhance the teachings in Abelghaffar receive an indication that a UE is aware of subband full-duplex operation and to transmit a downlink or uplink subband-specific channels and signals using RRC signaling, with the teaching of Jan to associate uplink-downlink sub-band logical pairing and extend it with the teaching of Kurita which describes SBFD configuration comprise of the downlink BWP associated with the uplink-downlink sub-band logical pairing. Doing so allows the flexibility BWP configuration and for subband full duplex configurations to be implemented in order for “more UL resources can be secured, and resource utilization efficiency can be improved.” (Kurita pg. 6).
Regarding Claim 13, Abelghaffar discloses a network access node, comprising: a memory; and a processor coupled to the memory, wherein the processor is configured to based at least in part on information stored in the memory: receive an indication that a user equipment is aware of subband full-duplex operation (¶[0190]: UE 115-a may further include an indication of one or more types of full-duplex communications that may be supported by the UE 115-a. For example, the UE 115-a may identify that the UE 115-a may support in-band full-duplex or sub-band full-duplex (e.g., flexible duplex), or both, over the communication link 205. Fig. 7 710. ¶[0236]: At 710, the UE 115-c may transmit a UE full-duplex capability indication message to the base station 105-c) and transmit, in response to receiving the indication (Fig. 7 715. ¶[0237]: At 715, the base station 105-c may transmit a base station full-duplex capability indication message to the UE 115-c. ¶[0237]: the base station full-duplex capability indication message may include a resource configuration for supporting the one or more types of full-duplex communications for each RF spectrum band. ¶[0237]: the resource configuration may include a type of full-duplex communication that may be used for full-duplex communications, frequency locations for uplink and downlink transmissions, a guard band configuration, a transmission hopping configuration, an antenna or antenna panel switching configuration, or a combination thereof) .
Abelghaffar does not disclose the indication being at least one of a downlink subband-specific channels and signals configuration or an uplink subband-specific channels and signals configuration disclose downlink subband-specific channels and signals configuration or an uplink subband-specific channels and signals configuration utilizing radio resource control (RRC) signaling.
However, Jan discloses the indication being a downlink subband-specific channels and signals configuration utilizing radio resource control (RRC) signaling (¶[0042]: an SBFD operation using a configuration of the SBFD operation or an indication to the user equipment (UE), wherein the configuration of the SBFD operation includes an uplink (UL) sub-band in downlink (DL), or flexible slots/symbols or DL sub-band in UL, or flexible slots/symbols along with UL/DL sub-band configurable parameters, and/or a management of a co-existence of an SBFD capable UE and a legacy UE. ¶[0045]: for a semi-static configuration/indication of the SBFD operation, a semi-static configuration RRC signaling is used to configure the UL sub-bands in DL slots/symbols or DL sub-bands in UL slots/symbols).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure a network access node to receive an indication that a UE is aware of subband full-duplex operation and to transmit an indication in response to the indication as taught by Abelghaffar and to extend it by including downlink or uplink subband-specific channels and signals using RRC signaling, as taught by Jan.
Doing so allows for subband full duplex configurations to be implemented in order to enable “the co-existence of legacy UE and SBFD capable UE in order to improve the backward compatibility” (Jan ¶[0078]) and to “improve the flexibility of gNB scheduling” (Jan ¶[0051]).
Abelghaffar in view of Jan does not disclose wherein the downlink subband-specific channels and signals configuration comprises subband dedicated parameters that are user equipment specific and are configured per bandwidth part (BWP)
However, Kurita discloses the downlink subband-specific channels and signals configuration comprises subband dedicated parameters that are user equipment specific (Pg. 58: Throughout this specification, SBFD operation in a UL symbol means a DL subband in a UL symbol that is designated as uplink by tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon or tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationDedicated, and SBFD operation in a DL symbol may mean a UL subband in a DL symbol designated as downlink by tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon or tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationDedicated)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the subband-specific configuration handling triggered by UE awareness of subband full-duplex operation, as taught by Abelghaffar in view of Jan, with the use of dedicated parameters, as taught by Kurita.
Doing so allows for subband full duplex configurations to be implemented in order for “more UL resources can be secured, and resource utilization efficiency can be improved.” (Kurita pg. 6).
Abelghaffar in view of Jan in further view of Kurita does not disclose the configuration are configured per BWP.
However, Lin discloses the configuration are configured per BWP (¶[0238] flexible symbols in each slot of the slot configuration period are determined from tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon and tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationDedicated and are different to different configured BWPs (i.e., each BWP has its own slot configuration). )
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the use of dedicated parameters, as taught by Abelghaffar in view of Jan in further view of Kurita, in each bandwidth part (BWP), as taught by Lin.
One would have been motivated to do this implementation in order to “improve latency and UL coverage” (Lin ¶[0096]).
Regarding Claim 17, Abelghaffar does not disclose transmitting at least one of: physical downlink shared channel configuration parameters, physical downlink control channel configuration parameters, a semi-persistent scheduling configuration parameter, or a downlink subband timing and frequency indication parameter with the RRC signaling associated with the downlink subband-specific channels and signals configuration; and transmitting at least one of: physical uplink shared channel configuration parameters, physical uplink control channel configuration parameters, uplink configured grant configuration parameters, sounding reference signal configuration parameters, physical random access channel (PRACH) configuration parameters, or an uplink subband timing and frequency indication parameter with the RRC signaling associated with the uplink subband-specific channels and signals configuration.
However, Jan discloses transmitting at least one of: physical downlink shared channel configuration parameters, physical downlink control channel configuration parameters, a semi-persistent scheduling configuration parameter, or a downlink subband timing and frequency indication parameter with the RRC signaling associated with the downlink subband-specific channels and signals configuration (¶[0042]: an SBFD operation using a configuration of the SBFD operation or an indication to the user equipment (UE), wherein the configuration of the SBFD operation includes an uplink (UL) sub-band in downlink (DL), or flexible slots/symbols or DL sub-band in UL, or flexible slots/symbols along with UL/DL sub-band configurable parameters, and/or a management of a co-existence of an SBFD capable UE and a legacy UE. ¶[0043]: In some embodiments, the UL/DL sub-band configurable parameters comprise sub-band features and/or an allocation of time/frequency resources to UL/DL sub-bands); and transmitting at least one of: physical uplink shared channel configuration parameters, physical uplink control channel configuration parameters, uplink configured grant configuration parameters, sounding reference signal configuration parameters, physical random access channel (PRACH) configuration parameters, or an uplink subband timing and frequency indication parameter (¶[0042]: an SBFD operation using a configuration of the SBFD operation or an indication to the user equipment (UE), wherein the configuration of the SBFD operation includes an uplink (UL) sub-band in downlink (DL), or flexible slots/symbols or DL sub-band in UL, or flexible slots/symbols along with UL/DL sub-band configurable parameters, and/or a management of a co-existence of an SBFD capable UE and a legacy UE. ¶[0043]: In some embodiments, the UL/DL sub-band configurable parameters comprise sub-band features and/or an allocation of time/frequency resources to UL/DL sub-bands) with the RRC signaling associated with the downlink subband-specific channels and signals configuration (¶[0045]: for a semi-static configuration/indication of the SBFD operation, a semi-static configuration RRC signaling is used to configure the UL sub-bands in DL slots/symbols or DL sub-bands in UL slots/symbols).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure a network access to incorporate the subband-specific configuration handling triggered by UE awareness of subband full-duplex operation, as taught by Abelghaffar in view of Jan, and extended with downlink subband timing and frequency indication parameter as taught by Jan.
Doing so allows for subband full duplex configurations to be implemented in order to enable “the co-existence of legacy UE and SBFD capable UE in order to improve the backward compatibility” (Jan ¶[0078]) and to “improve the flexibility of gNB scheduling” (Jan ¶[0051]).
Regarding Claim 18, Jan discloses transmitting a downlink subband-specific channels and signals configuration or the uplink subband-specific channels and signals configuration with the RRC signaling (¶[0045]: for a semi-static configuration/indication of the SBFD operation, a semi-static configuration RRC signaling is used to configure the UL sub-bands in DL slots/symbols or DL sub-bands in UL slots/symbols).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure a network access node to receive an indication that a UE is aware of subband full-duplex operation and to transmit an indication in response to the indication as taught by Abelghaffar and to extend it by including downlink or uplink subband-specific channels and signals using RRC signaling, as taught by Jan.
Doing so allows for subband full duplex configurations to be implemented in order to enable “the co-existence of legacy UE and SBFD capable UE in order to improve the backward compatibility” (Jan ¶[0078]) and to “improve the flexibility of gNB scheduling” (Jan ¶[0051]).
Abelghaffar does not disclose further comprising: transmitting a parameter indicating that the downlink subband-specific channels and signals configuration or the uplink subband-specific channels and signals configuration is dedicated to a specific channel or a specific signal with the RRC signaling
However, Kurita discloses further comprising: transmitting a parameter indicating that the downlink subband-specific channels and signals configuration or the uplink subband-specific channels and signals configuration is dedicated to a specific channel or a specific signal with the RRC signaling (Pg. 58: Throughout this specification, SBFD operation in a UL symbol means a DL subband in a UL symbol that is designated as uplink by tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon or tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationDedicated, and SBFD operation in a DL symbol may mean a UL subband in a DL symbol designated as downlink by tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon or tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationDedicated).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure a network access node to combine the subband specific channel and signal configurations based on UE subband full duplex awareness as taught by Abelghaffar in view of Jan, with the teaching of Kurita which discloses that the subband may be indicated with an RRC parameter specifying whether the configuration is UE-dedicated or common.
Doing so allows for subband full duplex configurations to be implemented in order for “more UL resources can be secured, and resource utilization efficiency can be improved.” (Kurita pg. 6).
Regarding Claim 19, Jan discloses further comprising: transmitting the RRC signaling indicating a subband full-duplex specification (¶[0045]: for a semi-static configuration/indication of the SBFD operation, a semi-static configuration RRC signaling is used to configure the UL sub-bands in DL slots/symbols or DL sub-bands in UL slots/symbols).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure a network access node to receive an indication that a UE is aware of subband full-duplex operation and to transmit an indication in response to the indication as taught by Abelghaffar and to extend it by including downlink or uplink subband-specific channels and signals using RRC signaling, as taught by Jan.
Doing so allows for subband full duplex configurations to be implemented in order to enable “the co-existence of legacy UE and SBFD capable UE in order to improve the backward compatibility” (Jan ¶[0078]) and to “improve the flexibility of gNB scheduling” (Jan ¶[0051]).
Abelghaffar does not disclose further comprising: transmitting the RRC signaling including a parameter indicating a subband full-duplex specification that is common to all signals and channels.
However, Kurita discloses further comprising: transmitting the RRC signaling including a parameter indicating a subband full-duplex specification that is common to all signals and channels (Pg. 58: Throughout this specification, SBFD operation in a UL symbol means a DL subband in a UL symbol that is designated as uplink by tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon or tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationDedicated, and SBFD operation in a DL symbol may mean a UL subband in a DL symbol designated as downlink by tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon or tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationDedicated).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure a network access node to combine the subband specific channel and signal configurations based on UE subband full duplex awareness as taught by Abelghaffar in view of Jan, with the teaching of Kurita which discloses that the subband may be indicated with an RRC parameter specifying whether the configuration is UE-dedicated or common.
Doing so allows for subband full duplex configurations to be implemented in order for “more UL resources can be secured, and resource utilization efficiency can be improved.” (Kurita pg. 6).
Regarding Claim 21, Abelghaffar does not disclose further comprising at least one of: transmitting a downlink bandwidth part configuration associated with the uplink subband-specific channels and signals configuration, or transmitting an uplink bandwidth part configuration associated with the downlink subband-specific channels and signals configuration.
However, Kurita discloses further comprising at least one of: transmitting a downlink bandwidth part configuration associated with the uplink subband-specific channels and signals configuration, or transmitting an uplink bandwidth part configuration associated with the downlink subband-specific channels and signals configuration (Pg. 6: Multiple BWP configurations and BWP adaptation mechanisms are required to switch one DL/UL frequency resource to another DL/UL frequency resource. Pg. 6: SBFD symbols are advertised or configured as UL (or DL) on a certain frequency resource (subband), or advertised or configured for UL transmission (or DL reception). Pg. 82: The BWP may include a UL BWP (UL BWP) and a DL BWP (DL BWP). Pg. 24: the UE is notified/configured for SBFD operation for the serving cell/Bandwidth Part (BWP). Pg. 45: SBFD operation (and/or DL/UL subband allocation) is notified/configured for the serving cell/bandwidth part (BWP)).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to enhance the teachings in Abelghaffar to receive an indication that a UE is aware of subband full-duplex operation and to transmit a downlink or uplink subband-specific channels and signals using RRC signaling, and extend it with the teaching of Kurita which describes SBFD configuration comprise of the downlink BWP associated with the uplink sub-band and uplink BWP associated downlink sub-band.
Doing so allows for subband full duplex configurations to be implemented in order for “more UL resources can be secured, and resource utilization efficiency can be improved.” (Kurita pg. 6).
Regarding Claim 22, Abelghaffar does not disclose transmitting a subband identifier within the at least one of: the downlink bandwidth part configuration to associate the downlink bandwidth part configuration with the uplink subband-specific channels and signals configuration, or the uplink bandwidth part configuration, to associate the uplink bandwidth part configuration with the downlink subband-specific channels and signals configuration, respectively.
However, Kurita discloses further comprising: transmitting a subband identifier within the at least one of: the downlink bandwidth part configuration to associate the downlink bandwidth part configuration with the uplink subband-specific channels and signals configuration, or the uplink bandwidth part configuration, to associate the uplink bandwidth part configuration with the downlink subband-specific channels and signals configuration, respectively (Pg. 6: DL frequency resources and UL frequency resources in the UE carrier are configured as DL BWP and UL BWP, respectively. Multiple BWP configurations and BWP adaptation mechanisms are required to switch one DL/UL frequency resource to another DL/UL frequency resource. Pg. 24: the UE is notified/configured for SBFD operation for the serving cell/Bandwidth Part (BWP). Pg. 45: SBFD operation (and/or DL/UL subband allocation) is notified/configured for the serving cell/bandwidth part (BWP). Kurita discloses that SBFD configurations are made per BWP in pg.24, meaning that subband specific signaling is tied to a particular UL or DL BWP. Kurita also links subband allocations explicitly to BWP in Pg. 45, meaning subband behavior must be defined in relation to that BWP configuration. Finally, BWP switching mechanisms in Kurita pg. 6, reinforce the need for explicit association. In SBFD, when a DL symbol contains an UL subband, the identifier within the BWP becomes a logical and functional necessity).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to enhance the teachings in Abelghaffar to receive an indication that a UE is aware of subband full-duplex operation and to transmit a downlink or uplink subband-specific channels and signals using RRC signaling, and extend it with the teaching of Kurita which describes SBFD configuration comprise of the downlink BWP associated with the uplink sub-band and uplink BWP associated downlink sub-band and further with the subband identifier within either downlink or uplink BWP configuration.
Doing so allows for subband full duplex configurations to be implemented in order for “more UL resources can be secured, and resource utilization efficiency can be improved.” (Kurita pg. 6).
Regarding Claim 23, Jan discloses wherein the downlink subband-specific channels and signals configuration and the uplink subband-specific channels and signals configuration together comprise a downlink-uplink subband-specific pair (¶[0042]: an SBFD operation using a configuration of the SBFD operation or an indication to the user equipment (UE), wherein the configuration of the SBFD operation includes an uplink (UL) sub-band in downlink (DL), or flexible slots/symbols or DL sub-band in UL, or flexible slots/symbols along with UL/DL sub-band configurable parameters, and/or a management of a co-existence of an SBFD capable UE and a legacy UE. ¶[0055]: The frequency location of an UL sub-band in DL slots/symbols can be allocated in the inner part of carriers or the inner RBs between the two DL sub-bands. ¶[0070]: For instance, the SFI for UL sub-bands in DL slots can include the following fields comprising … starting of DL slot, starting of UL PRB, number of UL PRB, and guard band. Similarly, the SFI for DL sub-bands in UL slots can include the following fields comprising … starting of UL slot, starting of DL PRB, number of DL PRB, and guard band. ¶[0042] indicates that SBFD operation in which UL and DL subbands are allocated in the same TDD slot. ¶[0055] shows the coexistence and positional relation between DL and UL subbands in the same symbol, these allocations are relative and coordinated which supports a pairing interpretation. ¶[0070] show the same format structures are used to convey DL and UL subband config implying a logical pairing or bundling of subband parameters).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure the subband full-duplex operation as taught by Abelghaffar and to pair the downlink or uplink subband-specific channels and signals, as taught by Jan.
Doing so enables SBFD operations to be implemented and lowers collision such that UL does not spill into DL reception.
Abelghaffar does not disclose and the processor is further configured to: transmit a downlink bandwidth part configuration in association with the downlink-uplink subband-specific pair.
However, Kurita discloses and the processor is further configured to: transmit a downlink bandwidth part configuration in association with the downlink-uplink subband-specific pair (Pg. 6: Multiple BWP configurations and BWP adaptation mechanisms are required to switch one DL/UL frequency resource to another DL/UL frequency resource. Pg. 82: The BWP may include a UL BWP (UL BWP) and a DL BWP (DL BWP). Pg. 6: DL frequency resources and UL frequency resources in the UE carrier are configured as DL BWP and UL BWP, respectively).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to enhance the teachings in Abelghaffar to receive an indication that a UE is aware of subband full-duplex operation and to transmit a downlink or uplink subband-specific channels and signals using RRC signaling, with the teaching of Jan to associate uplink-downlink sub-band logical pairing and extend it with the teaching of Kurita which describes SBFD configuration comprise of the downlink BWP associated with the uplink-downlink sub-band logical pairing. Doing so allows the flexibility BWP configuration and for subband full duplex configurations to be implemented in order for “more UL resources can be secured, and resource utilization efficiency can be improved.” (Kurita pg. 6).
Regarding Claim 25, Abelghaffar discloses a network access node, comprising: a memory; and a processor coupled to the memory, wherein the processor is configured to based at least in part on information stored in the memory: receive an indication that a user equipment is aware of subband full-duplex operation (¶[0190]: UE 115-a may further include an indication of one or more types of full-duplex communications that may be supported by the UE 115-a. For example, the UE 115-a may identify that the UE 115-a may support in-band full-duplex or sub-band full-duplex (e.g., flexible duplex), or both, over the communication link 205. Fig. 7 710. ¶[0236]: At 710, the UE 115-c may transmit a UE full-duplex capability indication message to the base station 105-c) and transmit, in response to receiving the indication (Fig. 7 715. ¶[0237]: At 715, the base station 105-c may transmit a base station full-duplex capability indication message to the UE 115-c. ¶[0237]: the base station full-duplex capability indication message may include a resource configuration for supporting the one or more types of full-duplex communications for each RF spectrum band. ¶[0237]: the resource configuration may include a type of full-duplex communication that may be used for full-duplex communications, frequency locations for uplink and downlink transmissions, a guard band configuration, a transmission hopping configuration, an antenna or antenna panel switching configuration, or a combination thereof) .
Abelghaffar does not disclose the indication being at least one of a downlink subband-specific channels and signals configuration or an uplink subband-specific channels and signals configuration disclose downlink subband-specific channels and signals configuration or an uplink subband-specific channels and signals configuration utilizing radio resource control (RRC) signaling.
However, Jan discloses the indication being a downlink subband-specific channels and signals configuration utilizing radio resource control (RRC) signaling (¶[0042]: an SBFD operation using a configuration of the SBFD operation or an indication to the user equipment (UE), wherein the configuration of the SBFD operation includes an uplink (UL) sub-band in downlink (DL), or flexible slots/symbols or DL sub-band in UL, or flexible slots/symbols along with UL/DL sub-band configurable parameters, and/or a management of a co-existence of an SBFD capable UE and a legacy UE. ¶[0045]: for a semi-static configuration/indication of the SBFD operation, a semi-static configuration RRC signaling is used to configure the UL sub-bands in DL slots/symbols or DL sub-bands in UL slots/symbols).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure a network access node to receive an indication that a UE is aware of subband full-duplex operation and to transmit an indication in response to the indication as taught by Abelghaffar and to extend it by including downlink or uplink subband-specific channels and signals using RRC signaling, as taught by Jan.
Doing so allows for subband full duplex configurations to be implemented in order to enable “the co-existence of legacy UE and SBFD capable UE in order to improve the backward compatibility” (Jan ¶[0078]) and to “improve the flexibility of gNB scheduling” (Jan ¶[0051]).
Abelghaffar in view of Jan does not disclose wherein the downlink subband-specific channels and signals configuration comprises subband dedicated parameters that are user equipment specific and are configured per bandwidth part (BWP)
However, Kurita discloses the downlink subband-specific channels and signals configuration comprises subband dedicated parameters that are user equipment specific (Pg. 58: Throughout this specification, SBFD operation in a UL symbol means a DL subband in a UL symbol that is designated as uplink by tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon or tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationDedicated, and SBFD operation in a DL symbol may mean a UL subband in a DL symbol designated as downlink by tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon or tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationDedicated)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the subband-specific configuration handling triggered by UE awareness of subband full-duplex operation, as taught by Abelghaffar in view of Jan, with the use of dedicated parameters, as taught by Kurita.
Doing so allows for subband full duplex configurations to be implemented in order for “more UL resources can be secured, and resource utilization efficiency can be improved.” (Kurita pg. 6).
Abelghaffar in view of Jan in further view of Kurita does not disclose the configuration are configured per BWP.
However, Lin discloses the configuration are configured per BWP (¶[0238] flexible symbols in each slot of the slot configuration period are determined from tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon and tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationDedicated and are different to different configured BWPs (i.e., each BWP has its own slot configuration). )
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the use of dedicated parameters, as taught by Abelghaffar in view of Jan in further view of Kurita, in each bandwidth part (BWP), as taught by Lin.
One would have been motivated to do this implementation in order to “improve latency and UL coverage” (Lin ¶[0096]).
Regarding Claim 26, Abelghaffar does not disclose means for transmitting at least one of: physical downlink shared channel configuration parameters, physical downlink control channel configuration parameters, a semi-persistent scheduling configuration parameter, or a downlink subband timing and frequency indication parameter with the RRC signaling associated with the downlink subband-specific channels and signals configuration; and means for transmitting at least one of: physical uplink shared channel configuration parameters, physical uplink control channel configuration parameters, uplink configured grant configuration parameters, sounding reference signal configuration parameters, physical random access channel (PRACH) configuration parameters, or an uplink subband timing and frequency indication parameter with the RRC signaling associated with the uplink subband-specific channels and signals configuration.
However, Jan discloses further comprising: means for transmitting at least one of: physical downlink shared channel configuration parameters, physical downlink control channel configuration parameters, a semi-persistent scheduling configuration parameter, or a downlink subband timing and frequency indication parameter (¶[0042]: an SBFD operation using a configuration of the SBFD operation or an indication to the user equipment (UE), wherein the configuration of the SBFD operation includes an uplink (UL) sub-band in downlink (DL), or flexible slots/symbols or DL sub-band in UL, or flexible slots/symbols along with UL/DL sub-band configurable parameters, and/or a management of a co-existence of an SBFD capable UE and a legacy UE. ¶[0043]: In some embodiments, the UL/DL sub-band configurable parameters comprise sub-band features and/or an allocation of time/frequency resources to UL/DL sub-bands); and means for transmitting at least one of: physical uplink shared channel configuration parameters, physical uplink control channel configuration parameters, uplink configured grant configuration parameters, sounding reference signal configuration parameters, physical random access channel (PRACH) configuration parameters, or an uplink subband timing and frequency indication parameter (¶[0042]: an SBFD operation using a configuration of the SBFD operation or an indication to the user equipment (UE), wherein the configuration of the SBFD operation includes an uplink (UL) sub-band in downlink (DL), or flexible slots/symbols or DL sub-band in UL, or flexible slots/symbols along with UL/DL sub-band configurable parameters, and/or a management of a co-existence of an SBFD capable UE and a legacy UE. ¶[0043]: In some embodiments, the UL/DL sub-band configurable parameters comprise sub-band features and/or an allocation of time/frequency resources to UL/DL sub-bands) with the RRC signaling associated with the downlink subband-specific channels and signals configuration (¶[0045]: for a semi-static configuration/indication of the SBFD operation, a semi-static configuration RRC signaling is used to configure the UL sub-bands in DL slots/symbols or DL sub-bands in UL slots/symbols).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure a network access to incorporate the subband-specific configuration handling triggered by UE awareness of subband full-duplex operation, as taught by Abelghaffar in view of Jan, and extended with downlink subband timing and frequency indication parameter as taught by Jan. Doing so allows for subband full duplex configurations to be implemented in order to enable “the co-existence of legacy UE and SBFD capable UE in order to improve the backward compatibility” (Jan ¶[0078]) and to “improve the flexibility of gNB scheduling” (Jan ¶[0051]).
Regarding Claim 27, Jan discloses transmitting the downlink subband-specific channels and signals configuration or the uplink subband-specific channels and signals configuration with the RRC signaling (¶[0045]: for a semi-static configuration/indication of the SBFD operation, a semi-static configuration RRC signaling is used to configure the UL sub-bands in DL slots/symbols or DL sub-bands in UL slots/symbols).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure a network access node to receive an indication that a UE is aware of subband full-duplex operation and to transmit an indication in response to the indication as taught by Abelghaffar and to extend it by including downlink or uplink subband-specific channels and signals using RRC signaling, as taught by Jan.
Doing so allows for subband full duplex configurations to be implemented in order to enable “the co-existence of legacy UE and SBFD capable UE in order to improve the backward compatibility” (Jan ¶[0078]) and to “improve the flexibility of gNB scheduling” (Jan ¶[0051]).
Abelghaffar does not disclose further comprising: transmitting a parameter indicating that the downlink subband-specific channels and signals configuration or the uplink subband-specific channels and signals configuration is dedicated to a specific channel or a specific signal with the RRC signaling.
However, Kurita discloses further comprising: transmitting a parameter indicating that the downlink subband-specific channels and signals configuration or the uplink subband-specific channels and signals configuration is dedicated to a specific channel or a specific signal with the RRC signaling (Pg. 58: Throughout this specification, SBFD operation in a UL symbol means a DL subband in a UL symbol that is designated as uplink by tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon or tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationDedicated, and SBFD operation in a DL symbol may mean a UL subband in a DL symbol designated as downlink by tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon or tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationDedicated) .
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure a network access node to combine the subband specific channel and signal configurations based on UE subband full duplex awareness as taught by Abelghaffar, with the teaching of Kurita which discloses that the subband may be indicated with an RRC parameter specifying whether the configuration is UE-dedicated or common.
Doing so allows for subband full duplex configurations to be implemented in order for “more UL resources can be secured, and resource utilization efficiency can be improved.” (Kurita pg. 6).
Regarding Claim 28, Abelghaffar does not disclose further comprising at least one of: means for transmitting a downlink bandwidth part configuration associated with the uplink subband-specific channels and signals configuration, or means for transmitting an uplink bandwidth part configuration associated with the downlink subband-specific channels and signals configuration.
However, Kurita discloses further comprising at least one of: means for transmitting a downlink bandwidth part configuration associated with the uplink subband-specific channels and signals configuration, or means for transmitting an uplink bandwidth part configuration associated with the downlink subband-specific channels and signals configuration (Pg. 6: Multiple BWP configurations and BWP adaptation mechanisms are required to switch one DL/UL frequency resource to another DL/UL frequency resource. Pg. 6: SBFD symbols are advertised or configured as UL (or DL) on a certain frequency resource (subband), or advertised or configured for UL transmission (or DL reception). Pg. 82: The BWP may include a UL BWP (UL BWP) and a DL BWP (DL BWP). Pg. 24: the UE is notified/configured for SBFD operation for the serving cell/Bandwidth Part (BWP). Pg. 45: SBFD operation (and/or DL/UL subband allocation) is notified/configured for the serving cell/bandwidth part (BWP).).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to enhance the teachings in Abelghaffar to receive an indication that a UE is aware of subband full-duplex operation and to transmit a downlink or uplink subband-specific channels and signals using RRC signaling, and extend it with the teaching of Kurita which describes SBFD configuration comprise of the downlink BWP associated with the uplink sub-band and uplink BWP associated downlink sub-band.
Doing so allows for subband full duplex configurations to be implemented in order for “more UL resources can be secured, and resource utilization efficiency can be improved.” (Kurita pg. 6).
Regarding Claim 29, Abelghaffar does not disclose further comprising: means for transmitting a subband identifier within the at least one of: the downlink bandwidth part configuration to associate the downlink bandwidth part configuration with the uplink subband-specific channels and signals configuration, or the uplink bandwidth part configuration, to associate the uplink bandwidth part configuration with the downlink subband-specific channels and signals configuration, respectively.
However, Kurita discloses further comprising: means for transmitting a subband identifier within the at least one of: the downlink bandwidth part configuration to associate the downlink bandwidth part configuration with the uplink subband-specific channels and signals configuration, or the uplink bandwidth part configuration, to associate the uplink bandwidth part configuration with the downlink subband-specific channels and signals configuration, respectively (Pg. 6: DL frequency resources and UL frequency resources in the UE carrier are configured as DL BWP and UL BWP, respectively. Multiple BWP configurations and BWP adaptation mechanisms are required to switch one DL/UL frequency resource to another DL/UL frequency resource. Pg. 24: the UE is notified/configured for SBFD operation for the serving cell/Bandwidth Part (BWP). Pg. 45: SBFD operation (and/or DL/UL subband allocation) is notified/configured for the serving cell/bandwidth part (BWP). Kurita discloses that SBFD configurations are made per BWP in pg.24, meaning that subband specific signaling is tied to a particular UL or DL BWP. Kurita also links subband allocations explicitly to BWP in Pg. 45, meaning subband behavior must be defined in relation to that BWP configuration. Finally, BWP switching mechanisms in Kurita pg. 6, reinforce the need for explicit association. In SBFD, when a DL symbol contains an UL subband, the identifier within the BWP becomes a logical and functional necessity).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to enhance the teachings in Abelghaffar to receive an indication that a UE is aware of subband full-duplex operation and to transmit a downlink or uplink subband-specific channels and signals using RRC signaling, and extend it with the teaching of Kurita which describes SBFD configuration comprise of the downlink BWP associated with the uplink sub-band and uplink BWP associated downlink sub-band and further with the subband identifier within either downlink or uplink BWP configuration.
Doing so allows for subband full duplex configurations to be implemented in order for “more UL resources can be secured, and resource utilization efficiency can be improved.” (Kurita pg. 6).
Regarding Claim 30, Jan discloses wherein the downlink subband-specific channels and signals configuration and the uplink subband-specific channels and signals configuration together comprise a downlink-uplink subband-specific pair (¶[0042]: an SBFD operation using a configuration of the SBFD operation or an indication to the user equipment (UE), wherein the configuration of the SBFD operation includes an uplink (UL) sub-band in downlink (DL), or flexible slots/symbols or DL sub-band in UL, or flexible slots/symbols along with UL/DL sub-band configurable parameters, and/or a management of a co-existence of an SBFD capable UE and a legacy UE. ¶[0055]: The frequency location of an UL sub-band in DL slots/symbols can be allocated in the inner part of carriers or the inner RBs between the two DL sub-bands. ¶[0070]: For instance, the SFI for UL sub-bands in DL slots can include the following fields comprising … starting of DL slot, starting of UL PRB, number of UL PRB, and guard band. Similarly, the SFI for DL sub-bands in UL slots can include the following fields comprising … starting of UL slot, starting of DL PRB, number of DL PRB, and guard band. ¶[0042] indicates that SBFD operation in which UL and DL subbands are allocated in the same TDD slot. ¶[0055] shows the coexistence and positional relation between DL and UL subbands in the same symbol, these allocations are relative and coordinated which supports a pairing interpretation. ¶[0070] show the same format structures are used to convey DL and UL subband config implying a logical pairing or bundling of subband parameters).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure the subband full-duplex operation as taught by Abelghaffar and to pair the downlink or uplink subband-specific channels and signals, as taught by Jan.
Doing so enables SBFD operations to be implemented and lowers collision such that UL does not spill into DL reception.
Abelghaffar does not disclose and the processor is further configured to: transmit a downlink bandwidth part configuration in association with the downlink-uplink subband-specific pair.
However, Kurita discloses and the processor is further configured to: transmit a downlink bandwidth part configuration in association with the downlink-uplink subband-specific pair (Pg. 6: Multiple BWP configurations and BWP adaptation mechanisms are required to switch one DL/UL frequency resource to another DL/UL frequency resource. Pg. 82: The BWP may include a UL BWP (UL BWP) and a DL BWP (DL BWP). Pg. 6: DL frequency resources and UL frequency resources in the UE carrier are configured as DL BWP and UL BWP, respectively).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to enhance the teachings in Abelghaffar to receive an indication that a UE is aware of subband full-duplex operation and to transmit a downlink or uplink subband-specific channels and signals using RRC signaling, with the teaching of Jan to associate uplink-downlink sub-band logical pairing and extend it with the teaching of Kurita which describes SBFD configuration comprise of the downlink BWP associated with the uplink-downlink sub-band logical pairing. Doing so allows the flexibility BWP configuration and for subband full duplex configurations to be implemented in order for “more UL resources can be secured, and resource utilization efficiency can be improved.” (Kurita pg. 6).
Claims 8 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Abelghaffar in view of Jan in further view of Kurita and in further view of Lin and in further view of 3GPP 38.331 (3GPP 38.331 Section 6.3.2 RRC information element V15.18.0 2022-06 Rel 15 ) (hereinafter 3GPP 38.331).
Regarding Claim 8, Abelghaffar in view of Jan in further view of Kurita and in further view of Lin does not disclose wherein the subband full-duplex specification is at least one of a timing advance parameter or a unified transmission configuration indicator state.
However, 3GPP 38.331 discloses wherein the subband full-duplex specification is at least one of a timing advance parameter (ServingCellConfigCommon > n-TimingAdvanceOffset: The N_TA-Offset to be applied for all uplink transmissions on this serving cell. If the field is absent, the UE applies the value defined for the duplex mode and frequency range of this serving cell) or a unified transmission configuration indicator state.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure a network access node to extend the subband specific channel and signal configurations based on UE subband full duplex awareness as taught by Abelghaffar in view of Jan in further view of Kurita and in further view of Lin, by incorporating the use of a timing advance parameter as taught by 3GPP 38.331. Doing so allows for leveraging the timing advance parameter, as indicated in the industry known specification, and to facilitate the desired transmission configuration.
Regarding Claim 20, Abelghaffar in view of Jan in further view of Kurita and in further view of Lin does not disclose wherein the subband full-duplex specification is at least one of a timing advance parameter or a unified transmission configuration indicator state.
However, 3GPP 38.331 discloses wherein the subband full-duplex specification is at least one of a timing advance parameter or a unified transmission configuration indicator state.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure a network access node to extend the subband specific channel and signal configurations based on UE subband full duplex awareness as taught by Abelghaffar in view of Jan in further view of Kurita and in further view of Lin, by incorporating the use of a timing advance parameter as taught by 3GPP 38.331. Doing so allows for leveraging the timing advance parameter, as indicated in the industry known specification, and to facilitate the desired transmission configuration.
Claims 12 and 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Abelghaffar in view of Jan in further view of Kurita, in further view of Lin and in further view by 3GPP 38.311 (3GPP 38.331 pg. 197-200 RRC information element V15.16.0 2022-01 Rel 15 ) (hereinafter 3GPP BWP).
Regarding Claim 12, Jan discloses wherein the downlink subband-specific channels and signals configuration and the uplink subband-specific channels and signals configuration (¶[0045]: for a semi-static configuration/indication of the SBFD operation, a semi-static configuration RRC signaling is used to configure the UL sub-bands in DL slots/symbols or DL sub-bands in UL slots/symbols… or DL sub-band in UL, or flexible slots/symbols along with UL/DL sub-band configurable parameters, and/or a management of a co-existence of an SBFD capable UE and a legacy UE).
Abelghaffar in view of Jan does not disclose wherein the downlink subband-specific channels and signals configuration is distinct from both a bandwidth part downlink common configuration and a bandwidth part downlink dedicated configuration, and the uplink subband-specific channels and signals configuration is distinct from both a bandwidth part uplink common configuration and a bandwidth part uplink dedicated configuration.
However, Kurita discloses wherein the downlink subband-specific channels and signals configuration is a bandwidth part downlink and the uplink subband-specific channels and signals configuration is a bandwidth part uplink configuration Pg. 6: Multiple BWP configurations and BWP adaptation mechanisms are required to switch one DL/UL frequency resource to another DL/UL frequency resource. Pg. 6: SBFD symbols are advertised or configured as UL (or DL) on a certain frequency resource (subband), or advertised or configured for UL transmission (or DL reception).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure a network access node to combine the subband-specific downlink and uplink configuration triggered by UE subband full-duplex awareness, as taught Abelghaffar in view of Jan in combination with the teaching in Kurita that subband full-duplex configurations are distinguishable per BWP. Doing so allows the flexibility BWP configuration and for subband full duplex configurations to be implemented in order for “more UL resources can be secured, and resource utilization efficiency can be improved.” (Kurita pg. 6).
Abelghaffar in view of Jan in further view of Kurita and in further view of Lin does not disclose wherein the downlink subband-specific channels and signals configuration is distinct from both a bandwidth part downlink common configuration and a bandwidth part downlink dedicated configuration, and the uplink subband-specific channels and signals configuration is distinct from both a bandwidth part uplink common configuration and a bandwidth part uplink dedicated configuration.
However, 3GPP BWP discloses wherein the channels and signals configuration is distinct from both a bandwidth part downlink common configuration (BWP-DownlinkCommon, The IE BWP-DownlinkCommon is used to configure the common parameters of a downlink BWP. They are "cell specific" and the network ensures the necessary alignment with corresponding parameters of other UEs) and a bandwidth part downlink dedicated configuration, (BWP-DownlinkDedicated, The IE BWP-DownlinkDedicated is used to configure the dedicated (UE specific) parameters of a downlink BWP.) and the uplink channels and signals configuration is distinct from both a bandwidth part uplink common configuration (BWP-UplinkCommon, The IE BWP-UplinkCommon is used to configure the common parameters of an uplink BWP. They are "cell specific" and the network ensures the necessary alignment with corresponding parameters of other UEs. The common parameters of the initial bandwidth part of the PCell are also provided via system information) and a bandwidth part uplink dedicated configuration (BWP-UplinkDedicated, The IE BWP-UplinkDedicated is used to configure the dedicated (UE specific) parameters of an uplink BWP).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure a network access node to combine the subband-specific downlink and uplink configuration triggered by UE subband full-duplex awareness, as taught Abelghaffar in view of Jan in combination with the teaching in Kurita that subband full-duplex configurations are distinguishable per BWP, and extended with the teaching that common and dedicated configurations are scoped per BWP and that subband full-duplex configurations are distinguishable from BWP common and dedicated configurations and further as taught by 3GPP BWP. Doing so allows for leveraging the common and dedicated BWPconfigurations, as indicated in the industry known specification, and to facilitate the desired transmission configuration.
Regarding Claim 24, Jan discloses wherein the downlink subband-specific channels and signals configuration and the uplink subband-specific channels and signals configuration (¶[0045]: for a semi-static configuration/indication of the SBFD operation, a semi-static configuration RRC signaling is used to configure the UL sub-bands in DL slots/symbols or DL sub-bands in UL slots/symbols… or DL sub-band in UL, or flexible slots/symbols along with UL/DL sub-band configurable parameters, and/or a management of a co-existence of an SBFD capable UE and a legacy UE).
Abelghaffar in view of Jan does not disclose wherein the downlink subband-specific channels and signals configuration is distinct from both a bandwidth part downlink common configuration and a bandwidth part downlink dedicated configuration, and the uplink subband-specific channels and signals configuration is distinct from both a bandwidth part uplink common configuration and a bandwidth part uplink dedicated configuration.
However, Kurita discloses wherein the downlink subband-specific channels and signals configuration is a bandwidth part downlink and the uplink subband-specific channels and signals configuration is a bandwidth part uplink configuration Pg. 6: Multiple BWP configurations and BWP adaptation mechanisms are required to switch one DL/UL frequency resource to another DL/UL frequency resource. Pg. 6: SBFD symbols are advertised or configured as UL (or DL) on a certain frequency resource (subband), or advertised or configured for UL transmission (or DL reception).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure a network access node to combine the subband-specific downlink and uplink configuration triggered by UE subband full-duplex awareness, as taught Abelghaffar in view of Jan in combination with the teaching in Jan that subband full-duplex configurations are distinguishable per BWP. Doing so allows the flexibility BWP configuration and for subband full duplex configurations to be implemented in order for “more UL resources can be secured, and resource utilization efficiency can be improved.” (Kurita pg. 6).
Abelghaffar in view of Jan in further view of Kurita and in further view of Lin does not disclose wherein the downlink subband-specific channels and signals configuration is distinct from both a bandwidth part downlink common configuration and a bandwidth part downlink dedicated configuration, and the uplink subband-specific channels and signals configuration is distinct from both a bandwidth part uplink common configuration and a bandwidth part uplink dedicated configuration.
However, 3GPP BWP discloses wherein the channels and signals configuration is distinct from both a bandwidth part downlink common configuration (BWP-DownlinkCommon, The IE BWP-DownlinkCommon is used to configure the common parameters of a downlink BWP. They are "cell specific" and the network ensures the necessary alignment with corresponding parameters of other UEs) and a bandwidth part downlink dedicated configuration, (BWP-DownlinkDedicated, The IE BWP-DownlinkDedicated is used to configure the dedicated (UE specific) parameters of a downlink BWP.) and the uplink channels and signals configuration is distinct from both a bandwidth part uplink common configuration (BWP-UplinkCommon, The IE BWP-UplinkCommon is used to configure the common parameters of an uplink BWP. They are "cell specific" and the network ensures the necessary alignment with corresponding parameters of other UEs. The common parameters of the initial bandwidth part of the PCell are also provided via system information) and a bandwidth part uplink dedicated configuration (BWP-UplinkDedicated, The IE BWP-UplinkDedicated is used to configure the dedicated (UE specific) parameters of an uplink BWP).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure a network access node to combine the subband-specific downlink and uplink configuration triggered by UE subband full-duplex awareness, as taught Abelghaffar in view of Jan in combination with the teaching in Kurita that subband full-duplex configurations are distinguishable per BWP, and extended with the teaching that common and dedicated configurations are scoped per BWP and that subband full-duplex configurations are distinguishable from BWP common and dedicated configurations and further as taught by 3GPP BWP. Doing so allows for leveraging the common and dedicated BWPconfigurations, as indicated in the industry known specification, and to facilitate the desired transmission configuration.
Conclusion
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/NAM P. CAO/Examiner, Art Unit 2479
/JAE Y LEE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2479
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